Kouichi's Nightmare
by Amoenna
Summary: Night after night after his spirits of Darkness had been purified, Kouichi has been having nightmares. But this night is different from the previous ones. Duskmon, who Kouichi thought had been destroyed, is back. But how can he warn his friends, especially his brother, if something prevents him from speaking Duskmon's name?


**Disclaimer:** I do not in any way own Digimon.

**A/N:** This may or may not be complete. I'm still undecided. This was actually the result of several days of re-watching both the subbed and dubbed versions of Digimon Frontier. I've always wanted to get inside Kouichi's head and really explore his fear of Duskmon. This is the result and hopefully I did them justice. Still not use to writing Kouichi or Duskmon.

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_It was the same. It was always the same._

_Why was it that he was always dragged back to this place? The same place where he was forcefully given the corrupted Spirit of Darkness? That was in the past! The Spirits of Darkness were purified and **HE** was gone forever!_

_Or was he really? Something, like a subconscious whisper, was guiding him back to this place every time he dreamed. All those times before when he had returned, nothing happened. But this time... this time was different. It scared him._

_Something about the air had changed. The shadows, swirling black and purple were all that he could see now among the foggy light grey smoke that cloaked the entire ground. The smoke created what seemed to look like floating platforms that were situated around him. Even if he had turned around, expecting to see the fragmented pieces of the digital world that they were trying to save like every time he had returned to this hated place. Except this time he saw nothing but the same darkness as far as the eye could see. If he had stared hard enough, Kouichi thought he could see the grey smoke combined with the shadows in the distance forming into Cherubimon, the corrupted heavenly being that caused this mess, but when he blinked, the smoke and shadows were as they always were - there was no Cherubimon or his disembodied glowing red eyes and mouth anymore. He was all alone in this place._

_Or was he?_

_An uncomfortable feeling surrounded him at that time, pressing down and threatening to suffocate him. The Warrior of Darkness took a few steps forward to try and shake the feeling, dark blue eyes still searching the fluctuating darkness for something, anything. He felt it - something was watching his every movement._

_Watching. Waiting. Biding its time until it can strike. Catch him and pull him back into the darkness where they though he belonged. But if they tried, his friends, the other Legendary Warriors, especially his twin brother, Kouji, the Warrior of Light, his opposite, would be there to stop them and help him resist the call._

_They already did so much for him in the short time of knowing the real him and not the corrupted past self that was manipulated by Cherubimon and was turned, no, trapped as Duskmon. A small smile graced his lips at those thoughts. But that smile was not to last._

_A shiver ran up his spine and he instantly drew his green jacket closer to him. He needed to find a way out! Light... he needed to find the light! That was how he had escaped the many times before. Pulling out his D-Tector as he started to run in the direction that he had been walking in for a while now, he fiddled with the buttons as he usually did in these dreams, but nothing came up on the glowing screen filled with grey static._

_That was odd... The older of the twins narrowed his eyes a bit and pressed one of the buttons once more and frowned. The 3D map wasn't working this time! If it had worked, he would just follow the five red dots that were the other Chosen Kids, and where they were was the 'door of light' where he could exit this place and wake up back in the digital world._

_His feet surprisingly made no noise against the smoke covered ground as he slowed down from running and stopped, eyes going wide at a sudden realization now that he wasn't thinking so much. He didn't know which direction to go in! Kouichi cursed at the thought of running around blind and his blue gaze flickered from side to side._

_Trapped. Trapped! He didn't want to feel trapped anymore! Especially in this nightmare, especially in here where **HE** could appear to haunt and torment him. But it was just a nightmare, right? Duskmon was gone, he wasn't apart of him anymore now that Kouji had taken away his spirits and later were purified as they returned to him._

"Run Kouichi..."

_The boy blinked and looked down at his D-Tector, which flickered to life. His human purified Spirit of Darkness, Loweemon, had appeared in place of the static. The golden lion mane that surrounded the black lion-like helmet and those red eyes peered up at him through the screen. Unlike the unnerving piercing red eyes of Duskmon, these were supposed to be gentle and calm, but right now there were filled with worry and urgency._

_His mouth opened, about to ask the Spirit why when a low laugh echoed across the rolling smoke. The boy froze in his spot, almost dropping his D-Tector as a violent shiver jolted down his spine, his breath catching in his throat._

_That couldn't be him! No, he was destroyed! He SAW the spirits of Duskmon and Velgemon shatter when they were purified and gave birth to Loweemon and JagerLoweemon's spirits. How could he be -_

"You still have much to learn about me. Haven't you figured out that you can't escape me, Kouichi? I AM you. I am the darkness that still exists deep within your heart and that isn't something that can simply toss aside." _The voice came from everywhere at once. A shadow fell over him and the Kouichi whipped around before stumbling back as he faced the looming presence of the corrupted spirit as he seemed to phase into existence from the darkness around him._

_The Warrior of Darkness narrowed his eyes and attempted to summon a ring of data around his hand in an attempt to spirit evolve into Loweemon. The raven haired boy never tried to evolve in this place before, but he didn't even think too due to there being no one here all those times before. He wouldn't be able to fight him as he was, but as Loweemon - wait. Why wasn't the fractal code appearing? What was wrong? Why couldn't he spirit evolve? He looked up to see a very amused look on the corrupted spirit's partially masked face._

"To put it simply, in this place you and I are still physically connected, as it should be. Yes, that's right. You are unable to evolve into Loweemon or JagerLoweemon whenever I'm near." _Duskmon explained, as if knowing what the kid was going to say before he could open his mouth. It stunned him. But before he could start thinking about why he was doing this, the black armored human spirit lunged forward, almost gracefully and a black dragon skulled arm reached out and caught him by his shoulder, the teeth digging into his skin._

_A surprised cry caught in his throat as shadows seemed to start seeping from the dragon skull, slowly covering him in darkness, first where the teeth held him tight on the shoulder. The darkness seemed to taint everything it touched, slowing moving up his neck and down his torso and back as it enveloped him. It felt cold, and his muscles were locking up as the blackness crept over his skin and clothing._

_No! He had to get away!_

"Kouji! Kouji!" _Kouichi shouted, struggling against the overpowering presence that was trying to force its way inside him now, even though he was losing the fight do to his muscles freezing because of the cold touch of darkness. He continued to will his frozen body to move away from the grabbing darkness that was emanating from Duskmon, roughly pulling against the tight grip that he held him in, causing the teeth to slice into his skin, leaving jagged bloody marks on his shoulder as the teeth ripped through his jacket and shirt with ease._

_A bright light erupted from in back of him as if responding to the Warrior of Light's name, bathing the surrounding area in a ray of light. The light had caused the darkness that had wrapped around most of his body at that time to flee back into Duskmon, who had recoiled from the sudden shift in lighting._

_Feeling the loosening of the teeth, the boy was quick to stumble towards the light that seemed to form into a door a few meters away from him as Duskmon began to recover. A door back to the digital world. It would take him away from this nightmare! Warmth from the light door enveloped him as he reached out to touch the center of shimmering surface with his good arm and was slowly pulled in. He was halfway through the light door when the boy felt something heavy latch onto him, causing him to cry out as he fully passed through the door._

"Leave me alone!"

Kouichi found himself positioned in an awkward crouch from where he fell asleep on the leaves that created a 'bed' for him on the ground, breathing hard and hands gripping his short raven hair tightly. His eyes were unfocused and staring down at the ground, darting this way and that as if trying to figure out what was going on. Was he still dreaming or was he awake? In the state he was in, he couldn't tell. His whole body felt damp from the cold sweat that clung to his skin and clothes, but there was another cold feeling that was spreading across his entire body, causing him to start shuddering and increased his breathing rapidly.

No... Did he followed him out of the nightmare?

That shout coming from him was loud in the quiet night air and was sure to wake even Takuya from a dead sleep. And he was right. He could hear startled movement from either side of him, then voices, faint voices shouting, asking if he was alright or if it was a nightmare again. Warm hands were placed on his shoulders, arms and back to try and calm him down. The warmth that radiated from them fought against the coldness that had claimed him, pushing it back, but it didn't last long.

Something was watching him and that same cold feeling that existed only in his dreams broke through the warmth and started to wrap around his heart and pull him down. Down towards the darkness that he knew was **HIM**. Not the purified Darkness that was his new Spirits. No, this darkness was corrupted, tainted by the evil that was Cherubimon - no, it was the corrupted angel Lucemon that had influenced him, corrupting the holy angelic beast into what he had become when Kouichi arrived in this digital world.

A low, but very familiar laugh echoed once more in his ears, seeming to come from everywhere at once. It disoriented him as he shook his head, yelling again and again to leave him alone. Something drew his eyes up, looking past the worried faces of his friends to stare at the rest of the clearing in back of them. Something was wrong. His shadow. Why was his shadow so large and strange looking? Then it dawned on him and pure fear shone in his eyes as his shadow started to warp into a very familiar shape.

Two glowing red eyes appeared at first inside the large shadow before floating upwards, followed by black and red armor that were covered in seven large eyes that were moving from side to side, taking in their surroundings. Kouichi's shadow melted away as the corrupt warrior stood there, seemingly being absorbed into Duskmon. Duskmon... It was him. But how? And why?

The voices came again, hands being waved in front of his face before their gazes turned to look at the place where he was looking at, confusion and worry written all over their faces. Didn't they see him? Why didn't they see him?! Was he finally going crazy? The faint voices came again, asking what he was looking at and that they didn't see anything.

His eyes widened when the evil spirit barely even flicked his black dragon skull heads and two blood red blades shot out of their mouths and took a few steps forward, moving his blades in front of him. Even though the corrupted spirit's mouth was hidden behind a mask, Kouichi knew for a fact that he was smirking. And seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

"Only you can see me Kouichi. For now that is. But I am no projection or illusion of your pathetic mind. I am as real as you are and I will be going nowhere." Every eyeball on his armor was turned onto him as Duskmon spoke. He couldn't respond to him, it seemed as though his tongue has frozen over in fear.

"Kouichi! What's wrong!? Answer me!" A strong, but worried voice sliced through the air, calling out to him, closer and louder this time and the Warrior of Darkness jerked his head back. Hands, having been gripping his hair tightly through all of this, fell away to drop back to his side. His dark blue eyes blinked, shaking his head while calming his breathing as much as he could. Everything returned to normal as the trance was broken, and the figure of Duskmon, who was approaching the group, has faded away, almost as if he didn't really have a true body in this world. Not anymore that is.

But he was still there, lurking in some sort of limbo, waiting to appear again when he least expected it. Kouichi knew it. He needed to know why the corrupt human spirit of darkness had returned. But those answers were going to have to come at a later time.

He turned his gaze back onto his younger twin brother as he called his name again, and was then unable to look away from the intense blue stare of the other. Kouji knew something was wrong with him. These nightmares were getting more and more frequent as days went by. And every time the nightmares happened, he and the other Warriors had a harder time snapping the Warrior of Darkness out of his trance that he would wake up in.

"I-it was... just a nightmare. I didn't mean to wake everyone up." 'Again...' Kouichi managed to get out after struggling for a few moments. Every time his mouth would try and form the words Duskmon, nothing came out. Something was wrong - and the Warrior of Darkness knew was unable to tell, no to warn Kouji and the others about his apparent return. Something was preventing him from telling them and he knew exactly who it was. Duskmon...

Those words didn't seem to settle well with the group as all of them gave him concerned looks. Something strange was going on here, and they needed to find out what it was. But they still needed to save the digital world from Lucemon's imminent return!

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**A/N:** Feedback and criticism is welcomed, but no flames please. :3 That is all.


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